Field installation, service and repair of optical fiber systems can be delicate, time consuming and often troublesome procedures because of the fragile nature of the components involved, particularly the optical fiber itself. It can be understood that field work on conventional electrical wiring systems has developed to a high degree of precision and efficiency. This is due, in no small part, to the nature of an electrical wire itself which can be bent and, in context, treated rather roughly. On the other hand, an optical fiber is a very small strand which is quite brittle and easily broken. An optical fiber cannot be bent very significantly.
A composite fiber optic cable conventionally includes an outer jacket, an inner buffer and a central or axial cladded optical fiber or fibers. The outer jacket and the inner buffer usually are fabricated of flexible, tubular plastic material. Strength members, such as elongated strands, usually are incorporated between the outer jacket and the inner buffer to protect the fiber and provide longitudinal strength for the cable while permitting easy manual manipulation of the cable itself.
However, in order to terminate the optical fiber or assemble the cable/fiber in a connector, the outer jacket and the inner buffer normally are removed to expose a length of the tiny brittle fiber. In terminating the fiber within an optical fiber connector, for instance, the connector often includes a forward ferrule, such as of ceramic material having a small center bore through which the fiber extends and barely protrudes from a distal end thereof for connection or mating with a fiber of a complementary connector. The fiber is inserted through the rear of the ferrule and often is broken whereupon further lengths of the outer jacket and inner buffer must be removed to again expose the fiber for termination. There are very few tools readily available which efficiently and accurately facilitate these termination or assembly procedures. This invention is directed to solving the above problems and providing an easily and accurately manipulatable tool for assembling an optical fiber in a connector component, such as the ferrule portion described above. In addition, the invention assumes that the assembled harness which includes the fiber optic cable and the connector components are assembled in correct positions with minimum bending and strain on the fiber that can cause dB losses.
The above problems are magnified in fiber optic connectors which are designed to terminate and mate with complementary connectors in which a plurality of optical fibers are utilized. It can be understood how difficult such procedures can become when multiple fibers are used in a single connector. Still further, and as disclosed herein, the buffered fiber and/or the fiber itself often is secured with the connector component by epoxy which greatly complicates field termination procedures and which is simplified by the invention.